A few years after we moved to Maryland, my mom started working at the preschool my brother attended. Even though the school closed a few years ago, the staff still gets together a few times a year. Some of these people are more like extended family than my mom’s old co-workers. They visited me in the hospital and even took me to some of my appointments. I doubt most people are this close to the staff of a school they never went to and their families, but I wouldn’t change a thing!
My mom was still working at the preschool during my first treatment. Instead of leaving a sick ten year old hold alone, she often took me with her. I would usually sleep or do my homework in another room since germy preschoolers weren’t the best people to hang around with a compromised immune system. I didn’t like wearing my mask, but if I wanted to be in the classroom I usually had to. I remember the first day I wore my mask in, some of the kids asked why I was wearing it. I told them I needed it so I didn’t get sick, and I don’t remember getting many more questions after that. Unlike some adults that stare, the kids didn’t want the details, they were just genuinely curious and had probably never seen a mask like that before. After I explained, all that mattered was that I would help them color or play their game, not that I was sick or different. When I was living in Baltimore after my transplant, I remember passing a little girl and her dad on the sidewalk. She was asking him why I was wearing a mask, and he knew I heard her and apologized. I told him it was okay and I gave her the same explanation I gave the other preschoolers years ago. They’re young and curious, and I’d rather give them a simple explanation than leave their parents to make up a story that may or may not be anywhere close to the truth. Preschool is a great age before life gets more complicated. What lessons have you learned from preschoolers?
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AuthorI’m Karen. I was originally diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) in August 2004 when I was 10 years old. When I was working on my college and scholarship application essays two years ago, I wrote about my journey. Although it was a rough few years, it became such an influential part of my life that I can’t, and wouldn’t want to, imagine my life without having had cancer. I called it the worst best thing that ever happened to me. Archives
April 2022
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